


It's Over Isn't It?

by highwayKing



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-10
Packaged: 2018-08-20 14:37:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8252740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highwayKing/pseuds/highwayKing
Summary: Greg had grown old and Pearl is conflicted with human mortality.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The idea just came to my mind one day and I decided that I should write it, why not.  
> I promise it's not as sad as it appears to be.

She didn’t know how she felt about this place. Pearl had never been in a hospital before, and frankly she didn’t want to be there.

Not like the place wasn’t pleasing to the eye. It was clean and bright; it showcased the brilliance of humans in curing their fellow humans. It is probably the best place to be if you are injured and in need of help. However, the fact that people die here almost on a regular basis was a bit unnerving. And the fact that they were here because Greg was here, in that little room only a couple of feet away from where she was sitting made her more nervous than she was in a long time.

She couldn’t go in there. She knew she should but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

Garnet understood, she placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s fine if you need time,” she said and smiled a little bit, kind and reassuring.

If Garnet said so then everything is going to be fine. So Pearl took her time, she sat down on one of the seats provided by the hospital. She had to collect her thoughts before she could go in there.

Humans get old, she knew this. Greg got here because he was old and wasn’t feeling well. It was the nature of their being, it happened to every carbon based life form. They are born and one day the time comes for them to die. They had mere eighty-ninety years to live. Some humans said that that was plenty. For her it seems like it goes by in a minute. It seemed like in their last days they agree with her in the end.

Pearl knew that it was inevitable. But whatever was she supposed to say in a situation like this, what was appropriate? She had lived on this planet for so long but she never came face to face with the death of a human being in a situation like this.

Sure, she had seen people die. But that was on the battlefield, and that was so long ago she even forgot how it felt. Those weren’t as personal as this.

No, she shouldn’t think like that. Greg wasn’t dying. He was just sick that’s all, tomorrow they can go home and everything is going to be fine and they can deal with this another time, maybe another ten years or so.

It was wishful thinking.   

“Excuse me, miss,” a young nurse approached her.

“Yes,” Pearl jumped to attention, anything to be distracted.

“Visiting hours are over, if you are not planning on staying you have to leave.”

Pearl felt a bit embarrassed. Garnet, Amethyst and Steven left a while ago; she decided to stay to talk with Greg but she wasted her time.

“I think I will stay, thank you.”

The nurse nodded. “If you need anything you can ask around at the reception, or you can come find me.”

Pearl nodded and she left.

Now what? Soon it’s going to be too late and humans needed their sleep, she couldn’t bother Greg when he needed to rest.

It was really now or never.

She knocked on the door before opening it.

The room was small, clean, just like any other, the lights were still bright even if the sun was starting to go down outside. There were two beds inside. One thankfully empty, the other occupied by Greg who was watching some sort of game show on the small TV that was hanging from the ceiling.  

He turned to her the minute the door opened. “I was wondering when you would show up.”

Pearl blushed a little in her embarrassment, she closed the door and walked in. “Well, you know me. I’m not the best when it comes to human interaction.”

She stood by his bed awkwardly folding and unfolding her hands.

Pearl had seen Greg grow older and older with each passing year. It was a thing that she noticed now and then, something that she didn’t pay that much attention to. Now it was screaming into her face. Grey hair, wrinkled skin, still sunburnt as he still spent time around the car wash.

“Don’t stand around like that. Take a seat,” Greg pointing to some chairs in the corner of the room.

“Oh,” she only said as she did as advised. Pearl picked up the chair and brought it over, not wanting to drag it on the ground and make noise. She sat down on the same place where she stood and continued folding her hands.

Greg chuckled. “You look like a fish out of water.”

“I’m certainly not!” she said indignantly. “I don’t know how I would resemble an animal that’s only capable of living in the water.”

Greg chuckled at that, but he really wasn’t feeling it right now. “Alright, what’s on your mind?”

“Excuse me?”

“You are troubled by something. You can tell me, I won’t judge.”

“Well,” Pearl wasn’t sure if she really wanted to talk. She felt childish for being distraught by something that was unchangeable. It’s not like Greg could do anything about it, he was just as helpless as she was. She continued to fidget with her fingers. “It’s nothing.”

Greg looked down at her hands then up at her again. He hummed. “I think I know what’s bothering you. You worry about this, right?” he pointed his thumb at himself playfully.

“Yes,” she admitted. There was no use denying it.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing,” Greg smiled. “It’s just a little heart attack, nothing that I can’t take.”

Pearl wasn’t sure if she should believe that. She was there, she saw it happen. It’s not a small thing when the person you consider your friend and care about falls to the ground, clutching his chest then passing out. She didn’t even wanted to think about what would have happened if Steven hadn’t thought fast and called for an ambulance.

Poor Steven, she couldn’t even imagine how hard this must be for him. He is a young man now, all grown up, but he is still in every way the little boy he was. This whole experience must have been traumatizing for him, she knew it at least shaken up most of them.

“Pearl, you are lost in your thoughts again.”

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just… I really don’t know what to say.”

“Hey its fine. These sorts of things are inevitable, they come with old age,” Greg said, trying to comfort her.

It felt unfair. Shouldn’t she be the one doing the comforting?

“I don’t want to make you feel bad or anything. But you have to know that there will be more ‘incidents’ like this,” he paused before the ‘incident’ word he used to describe it. It didn’t sit well with Pearl.

“More like this?” she asked, feeling bad for knowing so little about humans.

“Yeah, by experience these things don’t stop once they start. It’s either going to be a heart attack or something else until… you know.”

So there really was nothing to do to help it.

It was so strange to talk with Greg about this of all things. Things had been less tense between them ever since that eventful night spent in Empire City, and they have become good friend through the years, but still. It was something that she wasn’t comfortable with. As a gem she didn’t had to worry about growing old. She had a good concept of her own mortality; she was afraid of being shattered or corrupted like any other. But she couldn’t comprehend how any creature could exist while knowing their life span is so short.

Suddenly a new thought got into her head, one that she would rather think than what she was thinking now.

“You know,” Pearl started, smiling slightly. “I’m glad we resolved our issues when we did. I don’t want to imagine where we would be now if we hadn’t.”

Greg smiled too, fond of the memory. “Yeah. Otherwise this conversation would be really awkward.”

Pearl hummed. She could agree with that. If things would have turned out different, maybe she wouldn’t even be sitting here. Not like she wouldn’t be saddened by Greg’s condition, she would feel sorry for him, that’s for sure. But she didn’t know if she would feel like coming here let alone staying for a whole night. She wasn’t even sure she would even care.

Pearl shuddered at the thought. She really didn’t want to be thinking negative things right now.

“Pearl? Are you staying for the night?” Greg asked.

“I said to the nurse yes, so I guess I will. But if you don’t want to, I can leave.”

“No, it’s alright, you can stay. If you don’t mind watching some mindless entertainment with me,” Greg pointed to the TV on the wall where a guy just won some big prize and crowd was cheering for him as he celebrated.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt,” she shrugged and turned her chair to face the TV instead.

TV shows were always confusing for Pearl, she understood little about things that entertained humans. For example she had no idea why they even made a show about people trying and mostly failing to win money miserably. But she can put up with it.

In the next moment the guy on TV who just won millions lost them all. He wasn’t even crying, just lamenting his own stupidity.

Greg laughed. “That was dumb.”

“Yes, it was,” Pearl agreed.

 

Next morning Greg could go home, although he had to come back to some checkups and he got some medication to help him out.

Pearl was nervous for days. She mentally prepared herself to seeing Greg falling again. However, nothing happened, everything seemed fine. Eventually she could relax, but the experience left its mark on her. She made sure to spend more time with Greg, let that be casual chatting about their day or helping him fix his van. That thing was in worst shape each time she saw it.

Nothing much happened after that. She enjoyed spending time with Greg. Even if she didn’t know how much chance she had to do so.    

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Leave comment if you feel up to it.


End file.
